🍭 Fun-fact intro: Remember those mesmerizing paintings by Vincent van Gogh? Many of his artworks were painted using lead and chromium paints. Over time, the beautiful hues have faded due to redox reactions (we’ll explore this further down). This is a dazzling example of how chemistry is intertwined with art. 🎨

• 🌟 Concept: Organic compounds can be reduced (gain of hydrogen or loss of oxygen) or oxidized (loss of hydrogen or gain of oxygen).
• Carboxylic acids can be reduced to primary alcohols, while ketones can be reduced to secondary alcohols.

• 📜 Step-by-step
  • Carboxylic acids first get reduced to an aldehyde (losing an oxygen atom).
  • This aldehyde is then further reduced to a primary alcohol (gaining two hydrogen atoms and breaking a carbon-oxygen bond).
• 🕵️ Note: You often can't "catch" the aldehyde in between because it swiftly becomes our desired alcohol. Think of it like trying to snap a photo of a shooting star. It's there for a second and then – boom! – gone!

📜 The process: Ketones, when reduced, gain two hydrogen atoms, breaking one carbon-oxygen bond to form a secondary alcohol.